132 RICHARDS PIPIT. 



Mr. Seebohm found both old and young in August, up to 58° N. 

 lat. ; and it nests abundantly on the elevated steppes of Eastern 

 Turkestan, the Lake Baikal district and Mongolia. In winter it 

 visits South China, Burma and the Indian region. 



The nest is built, during the early part of June, in some depression 

 in a meadow or grass-field; and the eggs, which, judging from the 

 clutches obtained by Dybowski, are generally 5 in number, are 

 greyish-white blotched with various shades of brown : average 

 measurements "86 by -68 in. In Daiiria the Cuckoo frequently 

 deposits her egg in the nest of this Pipit. Two broods are some- 

 times reared in the season ; and in September the southward 

 migration commences. In winter it is described by Mr. Brooks as 

 frequenting paddy-grounds and vetch-fields in Bengal, where it is 

 very wary, keeping a sharp look-out, with head erect and outstretched 

 neck ; but Col. Legge found it very tame in the wet pastures of 

 Ceylon. Its usual call-note is loud and calculated to attract atten- 

 tion, while it has also a soft double chirp like that of a Bunting. 

 The ordinary flight is very undulating and strong. Col. Legge says 

 this bird feeds on worms and grasshoppers, and often seizes a pass- 

 ing butterfly or insect on the wing. The name was conferred in 

 honour of M. Richard, of Luneville in Lorraine. 



The male in breeding-plumage has the feathers of the upper 

 parts sandy-brown with dark centres, producing a mottled Lark-like 

 appearance ; rump nearly uniform brown, tail-coverts striated ; wing- 

 coverts tipped with reddish-buff; secondaries broadly — ^and primaries 

 faintly — margined with buffish-white ; outer pair of tail-feathers 

 nearly white, with only a narrow dusky margin to the inner web ; in 

 the second pair the dusky margin extends nearly to the tip, and 

 the shaft also is brown ; remaining tail-feathers very dark brown, 

 with pale and often bufifish margins to the central pair ; chin white ; 

 a dotted line of brown spots from the base of the bill down each 

 side of the neck to the gorget, which is still more spotted on a buff 

 ground-colour extending down the flanks ; abdomen dull white ; 

 bill dark brown above, yellowish below ; legs and feet yellowish- 

 brown ; hind claw generally longer than the toe. Length 7*25 in. ; 

 wing 375 in. The female is smaller, but alike in plumage. In 

 autumn a more rufous tint pervades the upper and, still more, the 

 under parts. In the young the pale margins to the upper feathers 

 and the streaks on the under parts are more pronounced. A 

 specimen in my collection, obtained at Malaga on March 15th, and 

 which I take to be a bird of the previous year, is renewing its tail- 

 feathers. 



